Jack and I have been married for three years now. We are currently living in Orem, UT waiting for Jack to finish school. We are both looking forward to having a real house, a dog and a couple kids running around. It will happen eventually right?

Thursday, December 20, 2012

We are really having to rush this year’s letter to press,
what with the end of the world coming on the 21st. We really thought
we had dodged a bullet when the world didn’t end twice already this year and
thought maybe we could get away without a letter at all. It turns out that
crazy old people are often crazy.

This year just really hasn’t been nearly as eventful as 2011
was for us. We didn’t buy a new house this year, or a new car, and despite
Dayna letting the dang dog run away a couple times, she always brought that
dang dog back, so no new dog either. That’s good though, because Anne is
adorable. We call our “Dogter.” That’s
how cool we are. Let that sink in.

Dayna was able to buddy up to the primary presidency in our
ward and get them to release her. Once word of her craftiness, they decided to
put her in a law of consecration calling where she makes free cute stuff
for the relief society. Jack got released from the Cub Scouts through a series
of menacing looks at short bishops and a serious case of being afraid of bears,
which has crippled his ability to camp.

Bear related fear did not, however, cripple Jack’s ability
to write things he doesn’t get paid for. Three times in the past year, Jack has
had articles selected and published by KSL.com, Utah’s biggest website in the
world. This has led to Jack being a huge celebrity around the house, sometimes
polling as high as 50% among registered Anne-dogs.

Speaking of celebrity fame, Dayna, famed reader of both Twilight and The Hunger Games, had another extremely successful round of craft
sellery at the annual Holly Fair. Bored women herded in droves to waste
their husbands’ money invest in high quality goods hand crafted by Dayna.
Hopefully we can use that money to finish our basement so we don’t have to be so
close together and be forced to listen to each other’s lame jokes as often.

A bit more about the basement. If you haven’t seen it, it is
4000 square feet, has a theater room already in place, and a segmented glass
area where the tile is ready for the pool. It’s also in Florida, and we both
have nicely tanned six packs. Dayna teaches baby aerobics and Jack plays for
the Heat. It is fun in our basement.

Back in reality, our basement is coming along nicely. We
have the framing and electric work completely done, and the sheetrock is almost
completely started as well. Once it’s done, we really do want to get a theater
room setup with a projector. Next, we’ll save up for a psychiatrist who can
help treat our ADD so we can both sit through an entire movie. These are the
problems you have to deal with when growing up in America.

We both like our jobs very much. So much in fact that
neither of us decided to even get raises or promoted, that’s how dedicated we
are. We celebrated our 7th anniversary this year, which means if
you’re one of our grandparents reading this, you’ve been mathematically
eliminated from being in your thirties.

To experience the true romance in our lives after seven
years, we traveled to Tooele, Utah, where we toured—as a symbol of our relationship--
an actual shut-down asylum. The asylum, confirmed as actually haunted by the
very respectable and trustworthy (read: sarcasm at full) folks over at “Ghost
Hunters,” was a great time. I guess we also ate a fancy meal and stayed at a
nice hotel, but we really just wanted to keep the description limited to the
romantic notion of being trapped in a building with insane people. That
resonates with these authors for some reason.

Each year we write down a few little anecdotes, but it
doesn’t really matter if we have cool things to brag about or if we just
distract you from our glaring flaws. We’re glad to have each other, and also to
glad to have those of you reading this in our lives. And were also really glad
that most of you are reading it electronically because, let’s be honest, you’re
probably not worth the production cost of a printed letter, picture, envelope
and a stamp, are you? We’d probably forget to send you one anyway, and that
would just be awkward later on.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

It has now become official. Anne will never bare children. We talked quite a bit about whether or not we wanted to eventually breed Anne. We loved the idea of little puppies and especially the money we could get for them. But when it came right down to it we felt like the best thing for us and for Anne would be for her to be fixed. I was hoping we could get an appointment over Christmas break so I could be home with her all day while she recovered. The soonest they could get us in was the first week of January but they did have a Friday available so we could still be there for the weekend.

I took her in before work on Friday morning. The waiting room was full of other dogs being dropped off and Anne freaked out. She clung to me the entire time. Anne usually loves other people. When we drop her off at the groomers she literally jumps into their arms. She can't wait to be showered with attention. So for her to be so clingy made it really hard. I'm sure she could sense my stress and the stress of every dog/human in that room. When the tech came to take her back I had to physically unhook her claws from my body. Poor thing.

I had to wait until I got off of work to pick her up, so it was a long day. When I picked her up at 3:30 she was pretty somber. I picked her up and she just looked at me. I'm sure all the dog people out there will say she was just groggy from the drugs, but I know she was secretly hating me behind that stare.

For the first night she was pretty sore and sad. We packed her around and spent the evening watching TV on the bed with her. Everyone warned us that she would be sore for quite a while and we'd need to keep a close eye on her. By day 2 she was over being sore and returned to the energetic puppy who wants to jump on everything and wrestle with us. We tried to keep her from jumping on stuff and kept her in her playpen most of the day but she recovered fabulously. She is back to being our crazy psycho pup-- and we love her.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Our engagement photo. Life before fast food and ice cream became our hobbies.

On the show Biggest Loser they always have the dreaded "week 2". The first week you lose all your water weight and you have a huge number. Week 2 numbers are always significantly smaller. I'm not sure why I thought I could skip over that. I lost almost 10 pounds in week 1 and this week I dropped 1.4 pounds. It's still a loss but not nearly as much as I had hoped for.

I had a few setbacks this week. I managed to get a 30 minute workout in every day. Unfortunately Wednesday night I was having a Debbie Downer day and decided a cup of chocolate chips and cheetos would cure the problem. They didn't. I ended up feeling sick all night and then the guilt made me feel sick the rest of the week. Friday night I decided to make cupcakes for my free day (Saturday) and I found myself picking in the cake batter the entire time. Not okay. So I can see where I need to fix some things for this week.

This week my goal is to get a 30 minute workout every day. I'm going to avoid snacking on junk food completely and I'm going to do better planning my lunches. I did okay drinking my water this week but I'm going to up my intake and finish at least 1 Liter before work is over every day. My goal is to lose 3.1 this week which will get me out of the 250's FOREVER!

I felt really disappointed when I got on the scale this morning but by the time we left our Weight Watchers meeting I had decided to brush it off and learn from my week.

On the bright side. Jack reached his goal weight this week. He's lost over 50 pounds since starting weight watchers and he weighed in at 189.6 this morning. Hooray! He has 6 weeks to maintain that and then he will become a lifetime member. Then we can stop paying for his weight watchers and we will be 40 dollars richer every month! =)

Saturday, January 14, 2012

*For all of our viewing pleasure here is a picture of pre-fatty Dayna. I was about 170ish here.

I figure since this is my blog I can write whatever I want on it. As you know, one of my new year goals was to lose 64 pounds. I went back to Weight Watchers to take responsibility and to start my new life. I weighed in last week at 263.8 pounds. Gross. I decided to jump right in this week and pre-planned all of my meals. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Jack is in school full time so I am on my own 3 out of 5 nights during the week. I knew if I didn't have a clear plan of attack I would go crazy in the kitchen by myself. Breakfast was cooked oatmeal with vanilla yogurt and a banana, lunch switched off between salad/fruit and cottage cheese/boiled egg/ fruit, dinner most nights was a turkey sandwich and fruits and veggies but I did throw in a veggie chicken patty sandwich and a bowl of rice chex a few nights. I snacked on Peanut Butter and Oranges but tried to keep my snacking to a minimum. I took a 1 liter water bottle to work and finished at least one of those a day (which is HUGE for me) I worked out Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

After I weighed in last week I told Jack I was shooting for a 6 lb loss this week. I was only able to fit in 3 workouts so I changed my goal from 6 to a 3. I felt like I would be pretty proud of a 3 lb loss. I stepped on the scale this morning and saw the numbers stop at 254.4. That's a 9.4 lb loss in ONE WEEK! I jumped off and high fived Jack. That's the most I've ever done in one week and I was beyond excited. Turns out I was the biggest loser at WWers this week. I'll take it!

This week really proved to me that pre-tracking and sticking to your guidelines really works. I really felt like because I pre-tracked I thought less about food. I just knew what I was going to eat and when I was hungry I ate it. I had a few un-planned snacks during the week (mini cupcake, jerky and skittles-- all on different days) but I made sure I tracked them and stayed within my points plus values. Seeing that I can lose 9.4 pounds and still have eaten some of my favorite "sinful" treats really feels great. I want to see what I can do WITHOUT eating those during the week but I really do feel great.

Now we're on to the dreaded week 2. On Biggest Loser it's notorious for being a low weight loss week. I am determined to stay away from the "sinful treats" this week and make sure I get a good 60 minute workout every day. I'm shooting for a 6 this week. Tune in next Saturday to see what happens.

*I realize a healthy weight loss is between 1/2 lb - 2 lbs a week. I know eventually my weight loss will slow down but for the first few weeks I am hoping it will come off a bit faster.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

I absolutely love the clean slate that comes with a new year. I know everyone feels like this year is going to be "their year" but for me it's true! I set a few personal goals and Jack and I set quite a few goals as a couple. We also set a yearly theme for our little family. Goals that are not written down are just wishes.... so here is how our year is going to go.

We decided to set a family theme this year. We really wanted to focus on becoming better and strengthening our marriage at the same time. We chose "I love us" as our family theme. We set goals to help us become the people we want to be. We are constantly saying we wish we were skinny people, or wealthy people or more spiritual people. Our goals, at times, might feel like we are denying ourselves the things we want-- but in reality we are doing this because we deserve better. We love us enough to give up the things we want now to get the things we want most. Our goals will also help us reach the point where we can be the people we have always wanted to be. We can honestly look at every aspect of our lives and feel like we love the people we have become. I'm so excited about this!

We set 8 goals for our marriage that we will work on together.

#1 Attend the Temple

We have gotten a little lax on our temple attendance and this year we are setting a realistic goal to increase our visits.

#2 Finish the Book of Mormon

We've started reading the Book of Mormon many times in our marriage but we've never actually finished the entire thing. This year we're going to finish reading the entire thing.

#3 Date Night

We're taking the time out every Saturday to spend quality time with each other. Instead of the fast food/watching tv dates we're used to we're going to plan out fun "quality time" with each other.

#4 Walk Anne

This might seem like such a silly goal but we've really slacked on our dog walking. Anne is such a sweet puppy and walking her more often will give us more exercise as well as chill her out. We found a make-shift dog park near our house and we're looking forward to spending a lot of time there.

#5 No Eating Out During the Week

Jack and I both do weight watchers and we allow Saturday to be our "free day". We plan on keeping Saturdays special by not eating out at all during the week. This will also help keep more money in our bank account. You don't even want to know how much we spent at restaurants in December. (we added it up-- it was scary!)

#6 Finish the Basement

We are currently sitting on 1350 sq ft. of unused home. We have the coolest plans for our basement and we even have the money set aside to do it! We just have to get our buns in gear. When we're finished we'll have a huge family room with a HD screen and projector as well as a small reading nook, a large office/work out room big enough to fit our treadmill and weight machine while still giving Jack his office space and room for his music recording equipment, an enormous spare bedroom, a cold storage room and a 3rd bathroom. It will really add a lot to our home and we're looking forward to finishing it.

#7 No Impulse Purchases

Jack and I are very fortunate to have great jobs that provide us with enough money to pay our bills and have some play money. Because of this we have got in the habit of buying things whenever we think we want them, regardless of the need. This year we are really going to pull back and think about purchases before we make them.

#8 Pay off our Credit Card

We went through most of our marriage without having any credit card debt, but a few years ago we fell into the trap. We've slowly been paying it off but we've really just been paying the interest every month. We have $900 on our card and plan on putting $150 towards our bill every month until it is payed off.

Personal Goals

I decided to really focus on 2 personal goals this year. There are so many aspects of my life that I want to perfect but I chose 2 that I am really passionate about right now.

#1 Lose 64 pounds.

I know this is letting the cat out of the bag but I've come to realize that weight is just a number. I pretend if I don't tell anyone that they will magically think I am skinny. Everyone can see the way I look. You knowing the number on the scale doesn't automatically make me look fatter or skinnier. I weighed in yesterday at a whopping 264. This is sadly not the heaviest I've ever been but it's not a number I am proud of whatsoever. I stopped living my weight watcher lifestyle and put 23 pounds on in less than 2 months. It's a sad and disgusting reality, but it is a reality. I'm determined to hit One-derland by the end of this year. I bought a treadmill and have pre-planned my meals for the week. It's a start. And a start I'm very excited to make!

#2 Expand my Craft Business

I absolutely love that I can make money doing something I love in my free time. I love making blocks and knowing that my work is decorating hundreds of people's homes. I love doing custom orders for people and I love coming up with new ideas that I know are going to be so cute! This year I plan on expanding from just doing the Holly Fair to either selling in a boutique or doing at least 1 other craft fair. This scares me to death because I have to put myself out there one more time, but I'm really excited about it!

So there you have it. The (very long) breakdown of how 2012 will really become "Our Year"

Of course the 2nd best part of Christmas is Christmas dinner. I get all Martha Stewarty and bake a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, twice baked yams, stuffing, cranberry sauce and rolls. It was absolutely delicious.

Jack wanted test out my new camera so he used the turkey as his model.

Even Anne got a delicious Christmas dinner. Santa left Tuna in her stocking so we mixed it in with her puppy food and Jack even iced her water. She was more than happy to eat her dinner and not beg for ours.

We had a fabulous Christmas this year. It was our first Christmas in our new home which was so fun and it was Anne's first Christmas as well. She really is our baby and she was so spoiled. She absolutely loved it though. Call it "mothers intuition" but Christmas was the best day of her life so far.

Jack loves playing "santa" every year. So I put our his presents and then he swoops in and sets out all his presents to me and all our presents from our families. He spreads everything out so when I wake up in the morning it looks like Santa dumped his sleigh. I love it!

Anne got a bunch of presents as well. She absolutely loved it. She would open one and then play with it until it was her turn again. She couldn't get over the fact that she got so many new things that she knew were meant for her.

Here's the mandatory picture of all our garbage.

Jack was so hard to shop for this year. He couldn't think of anything he wanted and literally gave me nothing to work with. I had to come up with my own ideas and hope he would be happy. He got a new L shaped desk for his office, an arrested development poster, new clothes, lots of blu rays, video games, exercise equipment, and new headphones for the gym and work.

I am so easy to shop for. I ask for the same thing every year and would perfectly content to get purses and jewelry for the rest of my life. Jack surprised me this year by getting me a Nook. I never knew I wanted one till I had it. I absolutely loved it and spent the next 24 hours locked up reading. He also spoiled me with my jewelry, purses, chick flick movies, boots, leg warmers, and home decor.

I was looking through all of my old Christmas pictures and I realize every year it's the exact same thing. haha. A picture of each of us in our new PJ's. A shot of the presents pre-opened, the garbage afterwards, our delicious dinner and perhaps one or two of us cheesing it up for the camera. Not much changed this year. Same pictures. Just a year older.

Here's a recap of our Christmas Eve. We opened PJ's from our Christmas Brownie Bernard. He even left some for Anne.

I love decorating for Christmas. This year I got all my decor out and realized I have no shelf space for anything. So it was somewhat of a toned down version this year. I shopped all the after Christmas sales though and plan to really amp up my game next year.